Lately I’ve been doing a non-scientific, unofficial poll with friends and acquaintances about religious beliefs and level of acceptance of science.
The vast majority of friends here, despite their level of religiosity, claim an overwhelming acceptance of evolution.
I don’t know many protestants here in Chicago. The majority of religious people are Roman Catholic. And if you grew up in the Yeshua Fog™, you know that Roman Catholics are all hell bound anyway.
It is a relief, though, to hear friends who send their kids to church schools or educate their kids through Confraternity of Christian Doctrine (CCD) also get excited about going to the Museum of Science and Industry, the Field Museum or the Adler Planetarium. These are places that do not pander to young earth ideas. Nor do they make reference to the possibility of a higher power.
Yet these parents find that holding both ideas as possible is okay. I can admire that.
It’s encouraging to hear local religious parents get excited about the NOVA series on PBS. It’s exciting to see their kids’ faces light up talking about the episode about dogs or an episode about DNA. It appears that local parents are separating their children educationally from the dim bulbs in other areas who do not emphasize education as a positive thing.
What is it about the conservative movement that finds special about limiting education? Or declaring that evolution and Intelligent Design need to be taught in the same classroom?
These aren’t necessarily new thoughts, but they’ve been on my mind lately, since we’ve been in contact with several parents lately who have talked about it.
Le Café Wittypoots 